One of Amazon’s primes intelligent free action films, Escape Plan gets a quick rundown.
With the Escape Plan trilogy complete, lets take a look at the best one, being the original with Arnie and Sly that totally delivered.
After several decades of the two struggling to get a script on the table, Escape Plan caught the eye of the two stars because of its thought provoking and dramatic premise. All you need are two action legends who can really act.
Stallone and Arnold took a cinematic comeback in the 2010 period with films such as Bullet to the Head, The Last Stand, and The Expendables franchise. Then came 2013, where the two decided to star in a film together, with a more specific screen focus on their performances with a narrative written around the iconography of the two stars and what the fans want, this being Escape Plan directed by Mikael Håfström. A film made for action audiences, leaving critics at the front door of the screening room.
The film is showing on Amazon Prime for free UK and let’s discuss why the film is still their best film to date, with solid direction and a premise that delivers with intelligence. The film is a slow burner but we get a lot of scenes with real meaning, making the action count for something rather than mindless shoot em ups.
The action scenes have a needed purpose to the story, serving as real plot progression. There is a real reason for these two stars coming together in the film because they both need each other and that’s compelling.
Critically, Escape Plan is one of the better works from Stallone and Arnie and together their chemistry is pretty fun. The film overall has a more serious tone because the plot this time around actually counts for much more than some of their previous narratives.
You have to pay attention to how the plot unfolds because as the title suggests, there is actual planning and preparing for the two escaping the prison and it turns out that prison escapes aren’t easy, especially when you have Jim Caviezel as the villain.
After starring in their separate films in the 2010’s, Escape Plan saw the two finally team up and the premise on paper was perfect. Prison escape concepts are always exciting to watch. A prison break isn’t a genre-specific concept, it can work across all genres, making it dramatic, exciting, comedic, and tense. Therefore, the concept alone I think can appeal to a wider audience because it combines both the action, star status, and an intelligent plot and those three components are exciting on screen.
The film really gets going when the two have to plan their actual escape, there is a conflict and rivalry between the two that’s fun to watch and admire. Two action legends that have done it all in the genre other than star in a film alongside each other with a lengthy runtime.
The actual prison itself is hybrid of modern and old prison concepts. The prison looks modern but its breakout execution is old-school retro break outs, similar to what we have seen in other prison escape films.
One of the best elements going for Escape Plan is that we root for Stallone’s character. His character is likable as he is thrown into this situation against his own will and even with a lot of intelligence he struggles to work in this high-tech facility and clashes with Arnold at the start, its that understated competitiveness between the two that work and I think this even shows in the film’s marketing including interviews, which really builds the films anticipation.
The actual action scenes are cool because they are’nt too over the top or goofy, they are pretty solid and competent. Fairly realistic gun play and fist fights, which is always undermined by a tense plot. The best action scenes can be found towards the end with a thrilling finale where we see the two fight together.
This film really shows how good Stallone is as an actor. In this film, he isn’t playing a version of himself or referencing his persona, he is his own character who in this case is very intelligent and understated.
Its a film that came straight out of the 80’s in the 2010 period, a throwback but its own piece works perfectly for a Stallone and Arnie movie marathon, throw Escape Plan in there to get the whole experience.
My only real complaint about Escape Plan is that it could have used a lot more energy, I think some of the scenes had a very serious and grey look and feel to them, the film could have really gone for it in some scenes but chose to hold back to give off a more dramatic tone.
One of the writers, Jason Keller who wrote Gerard Butler’s Machine Gun Preacher and one of 2019’s best films, Ford vs Ferrari and gave Escape Plan a serious tone with moments of charm sprinkled in some scenes. It was the right approach, where you don’t want to go the other way with a goofy tone like The Expendables 2.
Escape Plan provides audiences with a more realistic example of how these two can act on screen where we see the two sit down and discuss each other’s personalities, the film takes its time to get the most out of their talents and the two can act beyond their cultural annotations. The clip below is the perfect scene to sizzle the bacon, to give away the essence of these two stars without giving away too much, take a peak.
The direction is very solid for the concept. The tone is consistent and you can tell exactly what the director wanted from the cast and story. In that sense, it’s very focused and direct. The film was successful enough to spawn two more sequels that were straight to DVD, both failed in comparison to the original.
Escape Plan may not blow you away with its spectacle and thrills, but it serves as a nice and intelligent outing that fits nicely in the marathon of Sly and Arnie’s body of work, acting as probably their last piece together, but we will see what happens in the future.
You can buy the neat Escape Plan steelbook here, showcasing fabulous artwork.
Author Bio
Sam is a content writer. He loves all elements connected with film and writes with passion, always. You can find him on Linkedin, where you will be able to read more articles. When he is not writing, you can find him practicing football.
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